Heritage in Motion: The Bardin-Niskala Duo
A Collaboration with Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra
September 14, 2024 · 7 p.m.
KTM&HC Garden House
$25/adult; $10/students
Heritage in Motion is an annual music- and history-based collaborative event between KTM&HC and the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. This year, the program will explore the part music plays in identity, promote cultural awareness, and celebrate humanity with a featured performance by exceptional musicians The Bardin-Niskala Duo.
Tickets are on sale now and are anticipated to sell out - reserve your seats today!
The Bardin-Niskala Duo is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to using classical music to explore identity, fight racism, promote cultural awareness, and celebrate humanity during this time of division and racial violence. They perform cello and piano works by under-represented and historically marginalized composers, and their Commissioning Project asks ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) composers to write them pieces that incorporate folksongs and children's songs of the composer's particular cultures. Through these commissions and the performances of these works, they promote these composers and open dialogue with and amongst audience members on the notions of homeland, community, and belonging, on the complexity and uniqueness of various cultures, and on the challenges of navigating life in this country as a bi-cultural, multi-cultural, or minority person.
Cellist An-Lin Bardin and pianist Naomi Niskala met while living and teaching in New Haven, CT, shortly after they finished their studies at the Yale School of Music. An-Lin is of Chinese-American heritage and Naomi is of Japanese-American heritage. They have been playing together in their piano trio (Trio Kisosen) since 2016, and formed the Bardin-Niskala Duo in January 2021 in response to the sharp rise in anti-Asian violence and hate crimes across the United States.